Devices for use in motorized vehicles, often have a means, such as control panels, to regulate various inputs and outputs from and to desired areas of the vehicle. In heating and air conditioning applications this involves the desired ability to ensure that the adequate temperature and amount of conditioned and non-conditioned air reaches the various areas of the vehicle by means of a adjustable control panel. For example, in automotive vehicles conditioned and non-conditioned air can be channeled through an HVAC unit and distributed to various areas, such as the foot or panel, defrost, demist, and other areas of the cockpit within the vehicle. To enable these applications there needs to be a controlling device, such as a control panel, within the cockpit to ensure that air is distributed properly, as desired, by the opening and closing of doors within the HVAC unit, allowing conditioned and/or non conditioned air to reach the appropriate areas requiring heating, air conditioning or fresh (non-conditioned or recirculated) air.
One of the problems that have existed in the art as it pertains to control panels is that there is a vibration or shock that that can occur and be transmitted to, or through, the control panel. In those cases, the bulbs and other parts of the panel can become off-balanced and, if not correctly designed, must be manually re-centered to be functional. There is therefore, a need to self-center or realign, various elements that become off centered, due to vibration or shock forces.
Examples of self-centering arrangements for parts can be found in various patents such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,745,740, Vibration Dampening Arrangement for IC Engines, issued Jun. 8, 2004, to Decuir, U.S. Pat. No. 6,591,720, Disk Brake Lathe Vibration Attenuator, issued Jul. 15, 2003, to Greenwald et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,412,180, Anti-Vibration Element Having Separation Securement, issued Jul. 2, 2002, to Wolf et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,188 Shock Absorber with Elastomeric Strip, issued Jun. 30, 1998, to Lund. Though these patents employ various methods of vibration dampening, they are not like those provided in aspects of the present invention.
Bulb assemblies in general and, in particular candlestick bulb assemblies, used in motor vehicle applications, especially control panel applications, must have a life that can stretch over an extended period of time while enduring not only vibration during testing, but vibration during operation and shock loads placed on the unit as it cycles between extreme temperatures. This results in a great deal of stress being placed on the bulb filaments in the globe and elsewhere, and a need to isolate vibration transmission to these areas is evident. Insufficient isolation results in an abnormally short life span of the bulb filament and globe.